Why We Must Be Carnivores

Friday, September 16, 2011

I have just come across the most cogent explanation for why our digestive system identifies us as carnivores. It also explains why a high-fat diet is necessary for us. What an herbivore consumes and what ends up in its bloodstream are very different due to the action of cellulose fermenting bacteria in either the foregut or hindgut of the herbivore. What appears to be a high-carb low-fat intake actually ends up being low-carb high-fat nutrition by the time it is fully digested and assimilated. Check out the article and see how that happens: www.second-opinions.co.uk/should-all-animals-eat-a-high-fat-low-carb-diet.html I must say, after reading this, the macronutrient composition of cow milk makes more sense. It likely resembles the end product of cow digestion.

Actually, although the traditional Japanese eat a high-carb/low-fat diet and have great cholesterol numbers they have a high degree of stroke. A certain amount of cholesterol is needed for both mental health and the elasticity and strength of the blood vessels.

If you donít have enough cholesterol in your diet your mental health suffers because you either donít keep enough neurotransmitters or the transmitters you have cannot operate properly due to the lack of cholesterol in the brain. If you donít have enough cholesterol to have some in the blood vessel walls you will have fragile blood vessels, and especially the small blood vessels will rupture or leak, often causing numerous small strokes in the brain.

Now if you have too much cholesterol in the blood vessels it either creates plaque deposits in the blood vessels, or more notably in women it creates a lining of plaque over the whole blood vessel that is called small vessel disease. Having the whole blood vessel lined in plaque keeps the blood vessel from relaxing normally and also the blood vessels become over-reactive and constrict during times of stress or if you eat a high fat or high sugar meal (cause sugar turns to triglycerides, a type of fat, in the blood). These plaques in the blood vessels also makes the blood vessels more fragile and more likely to rupture; and the constriction of these fine blood vessels can cause small brain bleeds also.

I thought I had blogged it, but I guess I didn't. I managed to find a test from 10/30/2010. That would be about the right time. Total cholesterol: 147, HDL: 65, LDL: 72, VLDL: 10, triglycerides: 48. These are all in the normal range with the HDL being at the highest point of normal. My GP was happy with it, but my psychiatrist was concerned. Low cholesterol is a known risk factor for mental health.

Hmmm....I have read that low cholesterol levels are great, as long as you don't have high blood pressure due to high sodium intake at the same time. How low was your cholesterol that your doctor was concerned?

During my vegan experiment, my cholesterol level dropped low enough that one of my doctors was concerned. (Low cholesterol actually is a risk factor.) I asked Dr. Fuhrman how to raise it on a vegan diet. He did not offer any suggestions. He seemed to think it was fine that my cholesterol level was too low. Since I was not feeling well on the vegan diet, that experiment had to end.

Fuhrman does not argue for low fat, but recommends getting fat from nuts and seeds. His diet is "high carb," but the carbs from mostly fruits and vegetables in their natural state. Nutritarians enjoy excellent health. It seems to me that we may need the fat, but not necessarily animal fat.

I got fat when I eat vegetarian food only and my stomach protests for weeks.. I feel okay when I eat both vegetarian and meat.. There is something in vegetarian products like beans and lentils that can annoys our stomach.. Animals can better handle it than humans.. Some animals eat directly poison leaves and their stomachs can break it down fine.. Look at the Austrialian koalas and another animal the sloath they only eat one type of plant anything else is poison to them..